Device Management (DM) has traditionally been performed between a management server and a management client running on a device. This mode of operation may suit existing DM protocols for devices such as personalized mobile devices, e.g., phones and tablets, or operational network devices that are individually managed. As such, there has been limited development and support in managing DM protocols for a group of devices.
The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) has developed a number of protocols for DM in a network, including the OMA DM protocol, the OMA Gateway Managed Object (GwMO) protocol and the OMA Lightweight Machine-to-Machine (LWM2M) protocol. Moreover, the Broadband Forum (BBF) includes Customer Premised Equipment (CPE) WAN Management Protocol (CWMP). These protocols may be used to manage standalone devices, such as mobile devices, in a network. The OMA GwMO protocol may be used for managing a group of end devices behind a gateway. However, the protocol is limited to devices attached to the gateway. The OMA LWM2M may be used for managing constrained machine-to-machine (M2M) or Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices. The BBF CWMP protocol specifies a mechanism to use multicast groups within a Local Area Network (LAN) to provide file transfers to a group of devices. Moreover, these protocols primarily focus on software downloads. Separately, the BBF CWMP is limited to devices in the LAN where multicast can be deployed. In sum, there is a deficiency in providing enhanced group management operations in an end to end architecture by the current DM standards.
Specifically, in the current standards, there is also little or no procedures on how a M2M Server can communicate with a DM Server. This is attributed to the non-standardization of the interfaces for communication. Presently, interfaces require customized developments for each service provider. For example, in order for a service layer to support OMA DM, OMA Lightweight M2M (LWM2M), and BBF CWMP devices, three custom API interfaces need to be developed to communicate with each of these devices. This reduces efficiency and also limits interoperability between different systems.